


Advice

by Calyah



Series: Calyah's Solavellan Drabbles and Prompts [6]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 19:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3179759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calyah/pseuds/Calyah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After their kiss in the Fade, Solas and Lavellan agreed to not pursue a relationship. Some time later, Cullen comes to Solas asking for advice. (Answer to a tumblr prompt).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Advice

“Solas, may I have a moment?”

Solas looked up from his reading as he watched Cullen approach. It was highly unusual that the Commander would seek him out, and his brows furrowed in bewilderment at the man’s possible reasoning.

“Of course, Commander, are you in need of assistance?” he said and set his book down.

Cullen shifted uneasily and seemed to look everywhere in the room except at him, causing a fraction of worry to form at the back of Solas’ thoughts.

“I, well, in a way?” Cullen began awkwardly. “I don’t quite know how to ask you this, but I was hoping you could give me some advice.”

Solas’ eyebrows rose in surprise. Advice was certainly not something the Commander had ever asked of him, and he could not fathom why he was seeking it then.

“Advice?”

Cullen shifted again.

“Yes,” he said slowly. “About elves.”

“Elves,” Solas said skeptically. He did not think he would like the direction the conversation was about to go.

Cullen reached up to scratch the back of his head in a nervous manner and looked towards the ground.

“About how to go about courting an elf, actually,” he said.

Solas could say nothing in response. Whatever he had been expecting, it was certainly not that.

“About courting a particular elf,” Cullen hurried on, his words coming out in a jumbled rush. “Maker’s Breath, about courting the Inquisitor.”

Ah. Understanding washed over Solas in that moment, and an uncomfortable tightness settled into his chest. Instantly, images of Lavellan came to his mind, most prominent among them the ill-advised kiss they had shared in the Fade. It could not have lead anywhere substantial, and he had done his best to covey that reality to her as delicately as possible after they had awoken. She had been disappointed, and, in truth, he had felt the same, but he knew that path would have only ended in her pain, as well as his own.

Solas once again noticed Cullen standing before him, obviously awaiting an answer of some sort.

“Commander,” Solas said with a pang of guilt, “do not presume, simply due to my being an elf, that I am an endless font of knowledge for elven social rituals. I have spent much of my recent years alone, with only the spirits of the Fade to keep me company.”

He internally grimaced at his brusque tone and false words. It was not a complete lie, he supposed, just carefully phrased to skirt the edges of the truth.

“Right,” Cullen said, his voice colored clearly with both disappointment and contrition. “It was insensitive of me to ask. I’m sorry.”

As Cullen’s shoulders sagged and he made to turn back toward the door, Solas studied him. The Commander was a good man, with an obviously good heart. Solas could tell that he struggled sometimes, perhaps with the lyrium addiction he tried to conceal, but that, regardless, he put the happiness and well-being of others before his own. That knowledge made Solas pause.

“Cullen,” he said suddenly.

Cullen turned back around and looked at him with a furrowed brow.

“Yes?”

Solas swallowed and clenched his jaw before continuing.

“Ask her about the Dalish,” he finally said, the same tight pain in his chest constricting further. “Her family. Friends. What her life was like before. Show her you care. I suspect you will find her amenable to such a conversation.”

He paused again.

“And she is particularly fond of literature,” he said, his words quiet and wistful. “Perhaps a gift of that nature.”

Cullen nodded his head slightly and gave Solas a small smile.

“I…thank you.”

With that, the Commander left the rotunda. Solas, not able to continue his reading immediately after his departure, just stared blankly at the open door frame and thought about Inquisitor Lavellan with a sad smile.

After several moments of contemplation, Solas picked up his book with a resolute sigh. A future with him may have only been capable of bringing Lavellan pain, but perhaps with Cullen, she could be happy. She deserved no less.


End file.
